English is a global language. With the rise of electronic communication,worldwide trade and international travel, its status has far surpassedthat of a link language. English is equated with success. Wherever you go--from the luxuriant rain-forests of Costa Rica to the untamed wilds ofSerengeti to the hodgepodge of Eastern bazaars--you're sure to find someonewho speaks English albeit in an accent far different from yours. If nothingelse, English makes a disguised appearance in hybrids such as Franglais,Spanglish, Hindlish, etc.

Of course, this rise in popularity of English is not without a downside.Talk with someone for whom English is not a first language and you sensea feeling of loss. Reactions vary the gamut--from the trace of helplessnessof parents whose children can't appreciate a poem in their native language,to lawmakers making it mandatory for a company to also have a Web site inthe language of their country before the company can do business there.

What do you think? I'd love to hear from you about this subject whetherEnglish is your first language or not. Post your messages in this bulletinboard and this week taste some words taken from newspapers of the world.

Growing up in Kenya, it was interesting to see the reaction when peoplefound out that English was my first language. Some folks thought that itwas rather sad not to have a "mother tongue", because the mother tongueis what gives you identity, and defined what "home" means. "I speakEnglish with you, but when I am home, I speak Kipsigis." To know onlyEnglish is to not have any heart language - you have to speak work-talkand market-talk when you are with your loved ones. How impersonal.

It is deeply sad, I think, when parents don't teach their children theirmother tongue. It may seem unnecessary, and even impractical to them.However, when a culture is lost, there's no way to regain it. And when alanguage is extinct, there's no way to bring it back.

By telling the world that they have to know English to succeed, we'vekilled many languages, and cultures, and changed others irretrievably.It's very sad. And when I hear people refer to their own language, andculture, disparagingly, that's very sad also. And, I find it sad that Ilost my distinct culture and language 6 or 8 generations ago. I wouldlove to speak Welsh, and know all about the Clan Bowen, but, alas, weknow almost nothing about the clan, and don't speak the language.

I am from the Philippines. English is our 2nd language since the American came in 1896. I would like to know what you mean by Thread View 64 in the message index? I thought it was the number of threads or the number of words use.

Your words ring very true. In my culture, our Ancestral tongue was Yiddish. By the generation of my grandparents, it was used only to keep the children from understanding. By my Mother's generation she knows only some of the common expressions. I know even fewer of the expressions.

Parents, please expose your children to other languages and to your own native tongue. They will never be more open to learning languages than when they are really young and it will enrich their lives forever.

My background includes having grown up in India, exposed to about four languages (besides English) on a regular basis: my 'mother' tongue - Malayalam; the 'national' language - Hindi; the state language - Marathi; and the language of the trustees who set up our school - Gujarati. I can only claim any literacy in Hindi, however, since I received the most formal training in that language.

Since my first language is English, I suppose I slip into the English arrogance/imperialistic attitude from time to time, and my opinions may well be coloured by that fact. I believe, however, that while the ongoing loss of linguistic diversity is sad, we would be ill advised to reject English on the basis of the need to retain identity or diversity.

The problem with cultural identity (and perhaps this is a wider subject than this forum may allow) appears to me to be identical (depending upon one's stance on this) with that of xenophobia: you cannot distinguish a cultural identity unless you show how some (or the majority) are excluded from that group. This, in my opinion, is one of the leading causes of the xenophobia that has resulted in the internecine conflicts that we still seem to see only too often (Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, Northern Ireland etc).

I do not believe we can eliminate this 'exclusiveness' all together, nor that it would necessarily be a good thing. But I think it would be worth our while to mitigate its effects as much as we reasonably can. Unfortunately, the 'our mother tongue must thrive' brigade often seem to me to miss this point. Yes I regret, to a certain extent, the fact that I am not fluent in, nor literate in, Malayalam. But if I were offered that fluency and literacy as an alternative to the fluency and literacy have in English, then I would reject the offer. I am all for expanded horizons - but not when so many of these promises appear to be at the cost of actually limiting the horizons of those who 'should be native speakers' of a particular tongue.

My apologies if all this sounds a touch convoluted or disjointed. I suppose I might have summarised it as: keep English, but learn other languages by all means.

I am Italian, and Iearned my (poor) English mostly during a funny love with an American man.This has been an interesting experience: there are things which can be explained easily in another language - "ocean", for example, but we had a problem with "groundhog".Differences in languages often show cultural differences: for example, in Italian there is not an immediate translation of " I care", but there is one for "I absolutely don't care"!I am enjoing now the quotes in the AWAD- archives, but in those translated from latin languages I feel sometimes that something is lost...Even I like languages and words, I think that the language is not a perfect tool to understand and to communicate. Let me add a quote (Zen)"The way which can be spoken is not the Way"

It is my observation,that an accent is considered the equivalent of a handicap.For the same reason that an American does not inquire about a person's limp,that individual will not ask about the origin of an accent.Is it a lack of interest,a measure of ignorance,or is it out of fear for stepping on unsollicited turf? After having spent many years in different countries,I still am pleasantly surprised,when somebody candidly acknowledges my accent.I wonder if my observation is a shared one?

Regarding accents - I find them fascinating and often ask about an unusual accent. Am I politically incorrect?

In the UK the BBC, for example, has made a real effort to bring regional accents onto the radio and television. In these times of inverted snobbery I always consider my vaguely northen accent an asset and those born with a plum in their mouths find their offspring trading down to what is known as "Estuary English" - Sarf London and lots of glottal stops. Is there the same trend elsewhere?

Jeanne,I'm in exactly the same situation. Yiddish was the native tongue of my Great-Grandparents. My Grandparents spoke it fluently, as a second language, but crucially, 'NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN'. My parents only picked up a few common phrases, and I only know a few words. This is a very sad situation and it is even sadder if other languages go the same way as Yiddish. Incidentally, I don't know if you're aware of an excellent book: 'The Joys of Yiddish' by Leo Rosten.

I often inquire as to someone's accent. I really enjoy following up on finding out more about that person and the area he/she comes from, and this is a perfect way to get in to it. I never thought of it as politically incorrect, but I must say, I did cringe when Jimmy Carter used to pronounce "nuclear" nucular. Of course, this could have been plain old mispronunciation. Bill Clinton has his moments too. I think some accents change the language more than others, and a southern accent in the U.S. certainly tops the list.

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